My studio space.. in progress

I've been racing cars for about the last 9 years and I'm ready to close that chapter and move on. The race car has sold and the shop in my backyard will become my new studio.

Obviously it looks like ass right now and I have a lot of work ahead of me to get it finished, presentable and professional. If you have any ideas at all as far as flooring, wall color and where to put lighting and backdrops, please feel free to comment. My initial thought is to go with some type of pergo laminate flooring, but I'm thinking maybe a really tight loop, high traffic carpet might be okay. I'm also thinking about leaving the checkered floor on that side.

If this was YOUR blank canvas, what would you do (within reason). I do have some money to spend, but it's not like a blank check or anything.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts. I'll consider any and all opinions on this.

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very cool setup.

be interesting to see what comes up for studio setups.


Maybe more input on what you want to focus on ?

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Sorry... portraits. Full length body and head shots.

Ok, didn't want to assume. What else do you do with a studio right lol


Also a play on the word 'focus'


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for the most part, i like your hatch/coupe. : )..you got any shots of it??

Pepperoni,

You biggest challenge will be your ceilings. They look to be about 8 feet or so.

This will prove to be very confining.

Enjoy! Lon

Damn showoff lol

Next thing you know you're going to tell me you got a new camera too Congrats on the new setup. It's going to rock!!!!!

Lon,
The ceilings are 8.5 feet. This will limit some of my options, you're right.

If I had a space like that my family would hardly ever see me... very cool!

That's an awesome space. I'd be loathe to give up a nice garage. But the other space? Yeah, studio time!

It's a detached building, so I still have lots of garage space on the house.

Very neat studio space. I think it is the widely accepted idea to paint the walls as close to 18% grey as you can get. That will give you the option to shoot with the wall directly behind the subject, and you can use a gelled flash to create the color. Doing so will make it much easier to shoot a quick headshot, as you will not have to pull out the backdrops and stands for a couple simple shots.

For the floor, honestly that is up to you, however if I were building a studio, I would probably use a hardwood (or faux-hardwood) floor, as opposed to carpet, because it is much easier to roll a light stand on casters around a hard flat surface than a soft, carpeted floor. Also a nice looking floor gives a very professional feel to the place no matter what dull shade of grey the walls are.

if you have more garage space, then go crazy...

I would have to agree with justisnmnz; go with a wood/faux floor for ease of rolling things around and not also not generating/collecting dust. For the walls, I'd go with something like a grey also, or black.

Something I read in Digital Photo Pro article "On The Set" .......

Have some type of sound system.


This article described the pro as using dual computers, Cinema screen for client to see the shot realtime, Medium format digital back etc

AND

a DJ.

Yep a DJ. Helps considerably to put the model in the mood/frame of mind for the shot being taken.


Here is the article with the excerpt.

http://www.digitalphot​opro.com/studio/on-the-set.html

Excelent! So, has anyone found a brand or color number for 18% grey paint?
I'll hit up the paint store and hope they understand what I'm after.